Man guilty of drugging, molesting 15-year-old

A Winnie man has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a young girl after he drugged her and gave the youngster alcohol before sexually molesting her while she was unconscious.

Paul Al Guillory III, 29, was indicted April 4 by a Jefferson County grand jury for sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony.

Testimony Monday in Judge John Stevens’ Criminal District Court detailed the August 2008 sexual assault that began at a local mall and ended when the 15-year-old victim was found unconscious by her mother and rushed to the hospital.

Early in Monday’s hearing, it was clear Guillory’s plea deal wouldn’t come without some admonishment from Judge Stevens, who scoffed at claims Guillory didn’t know the girl’s age.

“No matter what, even as an adult, you can’t take advantage of someone who is incapacitated,” Stevens said. “But you, you. That’s the kind of person you are.”

Stevens seemed angered that the sentence in a case with such shocking facts wasn’t going to be decided by a jury. But after speaking with the victims and their mother, prosecutors decided to keep the victims from reliving their ordeal and offer Guillory 10 years of un-adjudicated probation for a plea of guilty.

“The victim and the family are reeling from his actions. And again, they are trying to minimize the harm that you caused,” Stevens said. “That doesn’t seem right in the great scheme of things.”

Moments later, Stevens sentenced Guillory to 10 years probation “reluctantly, because the family wants this.”

Stevens also sentenced Guillory to serve 180 days in the Jefferson County jail, the maximum jail time under the plea.

Guillory’s defense asked Stevens for some time before the 180 days were to begin, saying Guillory had just been given full custody of his 1-year-old child after she was taken away from her mother.

“You didn’t give the victim any time to think about it. You took advantage of her incapacitated state. You didn’t give her a few weeks to figure it out. This doesn’t seem fair to the victim,” Stevens said before reluctantly giving Guillory two weeks to keep the child from becoming a ward of the state.

After Guillory was sentenced, the victim’s mother gave an impact statement, telling Guillory to his face the hurt and sorrow her family has endured since 2008. The mother said she was upstairs when the assault occurred, heavily medicated for a back condition that later needed surgery. Overcome with emotion, the mother recounted the sexual assault to which Guillory pleaded guilty.

“When my baby girl was passed out cold, you took her (crying) and took advantage of her in her room in the most despicable way possible,” the mother said. “You took her innocence. You took her trust. You took her self-esteem.”

The mother said it was she who found her daughter unconscious in her room, partially naked and clearly drugged. She said her daughter doesn’t remember much of what happened that night.

“Although my baby girl does not remember what happened, she knows what happened to her,” the mother said. “She did not wake up until after the paramedics took her to the hospital, that long she was out cold.”

As part of his guilty plea, Guillory must attend a sex offender treatment program and register as a sex offender.

Guillory is set to appear again in Judge Stevens’ court Dec. 2 when he is expected to be taken into custody to begin his 180-day sentence in the Jefferson County Jail.